A World of Possibilities
by knightshade
Summary: If she couldn’t keep her head above water, he’d have to bring the oxygen to her.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A World of Possibilities  
Author: knightshade  
Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own Knight Rider, its ideas, characters, branches, divisions, or wholly-owned subsidiaries. See Glen A. Larson and Universal for that.

Summary: If she couldn't keep her head above water, he'd have to bring the oxygen to her.

Author's Notes: Thank yous to the wonderful Nutty for reading this not once, but twice. Thank you for pointing out the areas where it needed work.

**World of Possibilities**

He ran back out toward the listing, twisted metal frame again, the waves breaking around his knees, pushing him off balance, and slowing him down. The semi was at least another hundred feet away.

"Kitt?"

"RC has regained consciousness and is putting pressure on the wound, Michael. I think he's going to be okay."

Michael had found him limp in the cab with a nasty-looking head wound. He'd taken RC to the beach and left him with Kitt so that he could go back. "And Bonnie?"

"Her condition is the same, Michael, but the water's still rising." When he had first reached the semi, Kitt had told him that she wasn't badly injured – a sprained ankle, soft tissue injuries to her leg, cuts and bruising -- which didn't make Michael feel much better about leaving her there. But she was trapped inside and RC's injuries were more severe so Michael didn't have a choice. The only thing he could do was get back to her as soon as possible.

"Does the fire department know that they need to bring scuba gear and extraction tools?"

"They know, Michael, and they're on their way."

The water was less than four feet deep, but Michael dove into the surf knowing he could get there a lot faster swimming than trying to run through the water. His arms knifed through the waves as he closed the distance between him and the heap of metal that had once been the semi. It had come to a stop on its side after being thrown off the bridge. They were lucky it was a low bridge and they had landed in shallow water. But the trailer was a mess. Part of the roof and wall were ripped apart like someone had taken a giant can opener to them.

Michael climbed up the undercarriage, but the side of the trailer was wet and slippery. It had landed in a rocky area and instead of lying flat, it was tilted up at an angle. He fell back into the water with a splash. Frustrated, Michael took a few steps back so that he could see better and found a point where the side wall was badly dented. He managed to climb back up and pull himself onto the side of the semi, sitting in the cradle of the dent. Not wasting any time, he quickly scooted over to the door, pulled it open, and peered inside.

"Bonnie!"

"Here, Michael." She was in a shadowy area in what was left of Kitt's service bay, surrounded by twisted metal. The good thing about the damage to the semi's roof was that it let in enough light for him to see below. The water looked fairly clear of debris so he turned around and lowered himself as far as his arms would allow -- it wouldn't do either of them any good if he broke an ankle getting in. He dropped down, lost his footing on the sharply angled floor, and slid in the water until he came to rest against the overturned computer table.

Michael managed to get back to his feet and carefully picked his way through the knee-high water. Bonnie was pinned against the far wall by the heavy steel shelf that held her equipment. She was neck deep in water that was pouring in through the various tears in the semi's aluminum skin.

"You know, if you wanted to try to barrel roll this thing, you really should have given it a coating of MBS first," he said, mostly to release some of his own tension.

"The thought had crossed my mind. But either way we would have ended up in the water. Semi's and rockets don't mix well -- MBS or not."

"And you give me a hard time about my 'stunts.'" He knelt down in front of her, relieved that she was alert and her color looked good. "You okay?"

"I think so. My shoulder hurts, but it's not too bad. My leg is getting numb though, and I can't get it loose."

"Don't worry. We'll get you out of here." He stood up to survey the shelf and other debris. Picking what seemed like a promising spot, he grabbed hold and tried to pull. It didn't budge. He heaved again, and it shifted slightly but not enough to be promising. Thinking that it would probably be easier to push instead of pull, Michael stepped around the leg of an overturned chair to get between the shelf and the wall it was resting against. He put his back against the cold aluminum to push upward on the shelf. "Be ready to slide out if you think you can," he said and then pushed with all his strength. But he felt the metal behind him move instead of the shelf.

"Michael, stop," Kitt said over the comlink. "The wall is pulling away from the ceiling, letting in more water. The shelf still has equipment and tools lashed into it. It's too heavy. I don't believe you're going to be able to get her out that way. "

"Pal, can you get to the bridge and use your grappling hook to help pull it?"

"I'm afraid not. The semi is too far away from the bridge. My grappling hook won't reach."

Michael ran a hand through his wet hair. "Okay. Any suggestions?"

"Try to slow the water to give the fire department time to get here."

Michael sighed. That wasn't the approach he wanted to take, but it appeared to be the only one left to him. There was a hole in the wall over the office section where the rocket had hit and where water was pouring in. Michael slogged his way over and found the conference table. He pulled it up and forced it against the hole. Luckily it was heavy enough to slow the tide a little bit.

The front of the office where the ceiling had pulled away from the wall was getting doused with water each time waves rolled over it. Michael grabbed a chair, braced it against the wall, and climbed up. He striped out of his t-shirt and wrapped it around his hand before reaching up to pull the twisted sheet of aluminum back down into place. He was showered by waves a couple of times in the process but managed to get it at least part of the way closed.

"Anywhere else I can do any good, pal?"

"I'm afraid not, Michael, and by my calculations, it's not enough."

The distress in his partner's voice was obvious. Michael climbed off the chair, bracing himself for the bad news. "'Not enough' how exactly?"

"The rate at which the water is rising has been slowed, but not enough. It'll be over Bonnie's head before help arrives."

"How long before the rescue crew gets here?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"And the water?"

"Approximately eight minutes."

Michael closed his eyes, trying not to let that piece of information sink in too deeply. There was a way, and the three of them were going to find it. He sloshed back through the water to where Bonnie was trapped. Her eyes were wide and it was obvious that the water had risen significantly in just a short time.

"Guess I'm going to have to hold my breath," she said. Her voice had picked up a hollow echo in the watery surroundings.

Michael didn't like the fatalistic look in her eyes. He pushed back his own fears and frustration, and knelt down in the cold water in front of her. He cupped her face in his hands and said, "We're going to get you out of here. You're not going to drown in three feet of water. I'm **not** going to let that happen, okay?" He tried to drill that home, staring into her eyes until she nodded her head.

"Okay."

Michael dropped his hand to her shoulder before realizing that she was shivering. "Are you cold?"

"A little."

He wondered if it was just the water temperature or if she was going into shock. Kitt had said that her injuries weren't bad – nothing broken -- but he didn't know how badly her leg was being crushed or how much blood she might be losing internally. He just didn't know much about those kinds of injuries. He slid down and arranged himself on a piece of dislocated metal so that he could sit next to her. Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulder as best he could to help keep her warm. She leaned into him and rested her head against his shoulder.

Michael forced himself to think rationally. He'd had training in this sort of thing as a scuba diver. If she couldn't keep her head above water, he'd have to bring the oxygen to her.

"Have you ever gone diving or taken scuba lessons?" he asked.

"No."

"If a diver runs out of oxygen or has a problem with his tank, he shares his dive buddy's regulator. We'll have to do the same thing here only with mouth-to-mouth."

She gave him a sideways look and paused half a second before saying, "Okay."

Michael was hit with a funny memory from high school. He kept his grin to himself though. He had a feeling that she wouldn't appreciate hearing about the would-be girlfriend who'd told him she'd rather die than kiss him. Although, if it started to look like she might be going into shock, it wasn't a half-bad idea to make her mad. He almost believed she would be able to hold her breath for seven minutes if she were angry enough and doing it to spite him. In the meantime though, the water was still rising and he wanted her to be as prepared as possible. "You don't have a mask, so you'll want to keep your nose pinched shut to keep from breathing in water."

She nodded. But Michael was still worried. He knew that breathing underwater wasn't something that came naturally to most people. At least not at first. If she panicked or somehow breathed in water and started sputtering and coughing when she couldn't surface, she'd drown. And he knew that a lot of people washed out of scuba certification classes because they couldn't handle breathing through a regulator – especially without a mask. "We should probably try it first before you actually have to do it."

"Okay."

Part of him was a little worried about what she thought about him doing mouth-to-mouth on her, but he brushed those thoughts away. As far as he could see, this was the only way to save her life. "Go ahead and go under. We'll do a couple of breaths." She covered her nose and sunk under the water. He gave it a second before carefully putting his hand on the back of her neck and going under himself. He found her lips and parted his own to breathe out. Then he carefully closed them again, keeping a seal, and came up to get another breath and repeat the process. After doing it a third time, she came back up with him.

"Okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, but it's a little unnerving to be breathing under water."

That was exactly the sort of thing that worried him. This would be a lot easier if she had dive training. "Just keep focusing on breathing and try to relax. It'll only be a few minutes that we need to do this."

Although, he had a feeling those few minutes were going to feel like hours.

------------------  
To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2

Michael didn't understand a word Bonnie and Kitt were saying. It sounded vaguely like English, but beyond that, he was clueless. He'd tuned out quite early in the conversation and was just concentrated on helping Bonnie keep her head above water. He was sitting beside her and had grabbed hold of the shelf so that she could rest her head in the crook of his arm while Kitt kept her talking. Michael wasn't sure if he was doing it to keep her conscious – shock was his biggest fear right now -- or if his partner was just trying to keep her mind off things. Kitt had mentioned some intermittent problem he was apparently having and their conversation had quickly become indecipherable. Michael knew Bonnie was smart, but he was rarely around when she was truly in her element. She occasionally threw out technical terms when making repairs or installing upgrades, but this was a steady stream of tech jargon. He hadn't even been aware until now of just how much she must tone down her conversations when he was around.

He tried not to think 'dumbed down' but he couldn't help it.

"Yes, Bonnie, I do think that might help," he heard Kitt say.

"We'll have to try it when we get back to …" Her voice trailed off.

Michael immediately decided it was time to jump back in. "Hey, no pessimism here," he said, scolding gently.

"Sorry. It's just …" she trailed off again and stopped. Then she changed subjects abruptly. "I guess we've been leaving you out of the conversation. Sorry about that."

"That's okay. But has anyone told you recently how smart you are? It's a good thing I don't need to know any of that, or Kitt and I would be in trouble."

He felt her shrug. "It's not your job to know." She paused. "And knowing it isn't exactly helping me much right now, is it? Your knowledge is a lot more practical."

"I'm the brawn and you're the brains, huh?"

"I didn't say that," she said smiling. Her head was tilted back as far as possible, and Michael was dismayed to see the water pooling in the corners of her mouth.

"How're you doing?" he asked, serious again.

She shrugged again. "It's starting to hurt -- keeping my neck stretched like this."

He nodded and glanced at her face. He wasn't sure if it was just the lapping water or the reflections bouncing off everything inside the remains of the truck, but her eyes looked shiny. "There's probably not much time left," he said softly.

"I know." There was an awkward silence, and then she said, "Michael, I just wanted to tell you, in case I don't get out of this …"

"You will. You're going to be fine."

"Just let me finish, please," she said softly. He nodded but really didn't want to hear it. He wanted -- needed -- to stay positive right now.

"I'm sorry that I haven't always been good about recognizing all that you do. I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time about taking necessary risks."

"It's okay. You're just doing your job." He wasn't comfortable with the mood -- it was going to choke him up so he added. "Besides, I know you've always liked Kitt better."

She closed her eyes and said, "That's not true."

He looked away, feeling happy but a little embarrassed as well. "Well, let's just get through this so you can get back to giving me a hard time."

There was another awkward silence as the water kept creeping up her face. It was covering her closed eyes now in a thin film and her nose was just barely above the advancing water line. Michael's earlier conviction was beginning to falter -- the stakes of the situation were starting to get to him. What if they couldn't do this? What if she lost consciousness or went into shock or just panicked.

Unfortunately he knew the answer; he'd be left to sit here and watch her die.

Michael forced himself to shrug it off. She'd be fine. He was going to make sure of it. Seven minutes wasn't really that long.

"I think we're going to have to do this now," he said.

"Okay." She nodded slightly, just bouncing her head a little bit.

"Michael? Bonnie?"

"Go ahead, Kitt." Michael had wrapped his comlink through the netting on the shelf and put it in constant transmit mode so that he didn't have to worry about pressing the button or keeping it out of the water.

"I just wanted to let you know that I think it would be best if I don't interrupt much once Bonnie's under water. But I am here and monitoring everything. If there's anything you need or anything I can do, just say so."

"Thank you, Kitt," Bonnie said.

Michael sighed and gave her another look, trying not to feel like he was memorizing every detail of her face, like this might be the last time he really saw her. "Just try and find a comfortable position and relax. Think about your breathing." He took her hand. "If you get nervous or something isn't right, give my hand a long squeeze, okay? If things are alright, give it a short one."

She gave him a quick squeeze which he took as a 'yes'.

"You ready?" he asked.

"I think so."

She took a deep breath, covered her nose with her hand, and then he felt her slip away from him as her head bobbed under. Michael slid out from beside her and turned so that he could get to her more easily. He moved his free hand to the back of her neck, and taking a deep breath, went under with her. Bonnie's hand had already tightened in his and the sick feeling that somehow this wasn't going to work rushed back in. He quickly shoved all that to the back of his mind and pressed his lips against hers so that she could breathe. Her lips were cold and he could feel her shivering. She took in his air and he went back up, pausing briefly to watch the bubbles as she exhaled.

Then he went under and did it again.

This time when he came up he turned toward the comlink and whispered, "Kitt, is she in shock?" before ducking back down again. He hadn't wanted to ask when she could hear him.

When Michael surfaced again, Kitt said, "Her body's showing some symptoms of shock and hypothermia, yes; however, her vitals are only slightly elevated. She is bleeding, but the rate is slow enough that I don't think it's going to be a problem -- assuming the fire department can get her out quickly."

Slightly relieved, he ducked back down again. Again and again he went up and down. Bonnie's grip on his hand slowly loosened and he felt like they had gotten into a rhythm. He came up; he went down. So far, so good.

The next time Michael broke the surface he turned to the comlink again. "Kitt, where are they?"

"They're on their way, Michael. It won't be long now."

Michael wasn't blind to the fact that his partner didn't tell him how long. He went under again, feeling tired himself. Bonnie had gotten somewhat lethargic and he was worried that a lack of good oxygen was getting to her. He knew there was plenty of oxygen left in recycled air – the lungs only ever used a portion of it – but she was getting tired. He could feel it. Be it the oxygen or her injuries or shock, the result was the same.

He sunk under again and felt the pull of her lungs against his, but this time her hand suddenly crushed down on his and her eyes flew open. His brain took only a fraction of second to register the fact that she must have somehow breathed in water. Michael snapped his hand out of hers and clamped it down over her hand and nose. He crushed his lips against hers and held fast with the hand on her neck as she started coughing and gasping. He was startled by the feel of the harsh, rasping coughs and the sharp pushing and pulling of the air they were sharing between their lungs. He didn't let up on his grip, determined that she was not going to breathe in any more water.

Bonnie's coughing slowed and he quickly broke away and gulped in as much air as he could. Michael dropped down again immediately and managed to get to her before she coughed again. They sat there, breathing the same air back and forth while her coughing subsided. He went up and quickly grabbed more air. She coughed once more and seemed to settle back to normal breathing.

After a minute he pulled his hand away from her face and took her free hand again. She gave it a quick pulse. Michael looked into Bonnie's eyes, searching through the blurry water. She seemed to be okay and she was definitely now a lot more alert than she had been. Michael realized he was still holding her neck tightly and eased up, trying to clear the adrenaline from his own body.

He came up again feeling flustered and angry. "Kitt!" he yelled toward the comlink.

"The fire department and paramedics are here, Michael."

Thank God.

"But it's going to take them a minute or two to get out to you. Is Bonnie still okay?"

"Hanging in there, pal," he said dropping his head down again.

Soon afterward Michael heard clanging against the semi's ruined undercarriage. A few more times up and down and then someone was coming through the side door and dropping to the floor. "You got someone trapped in here?"

"Yeah, she's down here."

"Is she still conscious?"

"Yes." He went under again, not wanting to make her wait. Although she must be able to hear that something was going on.

The man had made his way over by the time Michael surfaced again and he lowered a scuba tank into the water. "I'm Justin. The guy outside is Dale." He handed Michael a regulator. "Just have her breathe normally." Michael gratefully took it, then went back under and shook Bonnie's hand to get her attention. She squeezed back but didn't open her eyes, so her he lifted her chin. Her eyes opened and he held the regulator up to her mouth. She took it and bit down. The bubbles were slow in coming at first, but then she seemed to get the hang of it. Michael surfaced and let out a sigh of relief. "It's about time you guys got here," he said to the paramedics.

"Yeah, sorry about that. You picked about the worst possible place to have this little accident."

"I guess so." Unfortunately it was no accident. He and Kitt were going to have to deal with that, but in the meantime he was just glad that it looked like they were going to get out of this in more or less one piece.

Another man appeared in the doorway and started handing his partner cutting rods. Michael figured they knew their jobs and turned his attention back to Bonnie. He watched as the bubbles rolled to the surface every few seconds. He slid back down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. His own mouth and nose were barely out of the water, but it was the most comfortable position he could find. Bonnie's hair was fanned out around her, tickling his chest and floating back and forth across his arm. Michael noticed the goose bumps covering her arms and pulled her tighter as he settled in to wait. The bubbles rising to the surface were slowly mesmerizing him. It was a testament to how mentally and physically exhausted he was.

The guys from the fire department were efficient and set to work at clearing the debris. Michael was just wondering how long it was going to take when suddenly he realized that Bonnie was free. He felt her body float up just as Justin said, "Pull her loose if you can." Michael pulled her up to the surface and gently took the regulator from her. "You okay?"

She took in several ragged breaths and nodded before finally looking up at him. Then she slid her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Shh. It's okay," he said smoothing her hair. "It's alright. You're going to be okay now."

Michael held her for a moment before pulling back to take a look at her. Her lips were blue and she was beyond shivering to the point of actually shaking. He kissed her forehead, brushed the strands of wet hair out of her face, and pulled her close again. Then he looked up at the guys and at the hole where the door was. "Okay, how do we get out of here?"

Justin was already in the forward part of the trailer. "By cutting a hole. Hold on, it's going to get a little more flooded in here. Michael heard the sizzle of the cutting rod and then the water rushing in. It was deep enough now to swim past the debris, so he turned half on his back and wrapped his arm around Bonnie's waist to pull her with him. Justin had cut a good-sized hole in the side of the semi and Michael was able to swim out, followed by the two rescuers.

They were quickly out of the shadow of the semi and into the direct sunlight. Michael had hoped that would help Bonnie's hypothermia, but they were still in the cold water. As soon as they were reasonably close to the shore, Michael stood up and lifted her out of the water, carrying her carefully through the breaking surf.

The paramedics were waiting on the beach behind the ambulance with a stretcher. Michael headed for it and was immediately mobbed. Suddenly there were paramedics around him with a blood pressure cuff, oxygen mask, and blankets. He set Bonnie down on the stretcher and took a step back, feeling like he was in the way.

"Michael?" Bonnie asked, grasping his hand. She looked tired, confused.

"I'm just going to check on RC and then dry off a bit. I'll be right back, okay?" he said, giving her hand a squeeze.

She nodded and he gave her forehead a quick peck before backing away. It felt ridiculously chaste given the situation, but he was suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

He made his way over to the other ambulance and peered into the back as the paramedic inside finished the task of strapping RC into his stretcher. "How are you doing?" he asked.

RC looked up. "Fine, man. But I think my brains got a little scrambled … again. You know, no one told me that driving a truck would be this dangerous."

Michael smiled. "Yeah, try driving the car sometime."

RC grinned. "Bonnie okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'm sure they'll take her to the hospital though."

"Yeah. They aren't letting me go without a ride either."

Michael laughed. "Hospitals aren't hard to break out of. I'll give you tips if you want."

"You're on."

Michael clasped hands with him and stepped back as the paramedic closed the door. He watched as they turned on the lights and the ambulance pulled away before he turned to head toward Kitt.

"Are you okay, Michael?" his partner asked, as he leaned heavily against the door.

"Fine, pal. Just tired."

"There's a towel and a change of clothes in the trunk."

Michael knew that, but it was nice to be reminded.

"You really should get out of those wet clothes. Your jacket is in the passenger's seat when you're ready."

Michael nodded. It was nice to have Kitt taking care of him. He walked around to the back of the car and Kitt popped the trunk for him. He dug around until he found the towel in his bag and rubbed his hair down, feeling way too tired to deal with the issue of clothes at the moment. But if he was going to go to the hospital, he was going to have to change. He wrapped the towel around his neck, grabbed the duffle bag and eased the trunk slowly closed. He pulled open the driver's side door to collapse for just a second in the seat. He was relieved that Kitt didn't even protest over his wet, salty clothes. Michael leaned his head back on the seat and took a few deep, even breaths -- more aware than usual of how precious those breaths were. He looked out the windshield in front of him at the flurry of activity around the stretcher.

"She's going to be alright, Michael," Kitt said softly.

"I know." He knew he didn't sound convinced. "I'm fine, Kitt. It's just …" He stared at the bustle of activity, but the colors from the ambulance lights started to run together.

"It scared me too," Kitt said softly.

Michael nodded and ran a hand through his tangled hair. He pulled the towel from around his shoulders and scrubbed his head again. She was fine. They were all fine. Once more into the jaws of death and once more they had averted catastrophe.

It just hadn't quite sunk in yet that everything was okay.

He pulled open the duffle bag, found the pair of jeans inside, and shed the wet pair he was wearing. New jeans, a clean t-shirt, and he felt at least a little bit better. He took one more deep cleansing breath, trying to get rid of the excess adrenaline and get his body to relax, aware that his lungs were now only supporting one life instead of two.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kitt asked.

"I will be." He paused and looked down at the voice modulator. "Thank you, pal."

"I didn't do anything."

Michael smiled a bit. "Yes you did." He pushed open the door and went back to see about Bonnie. The paramedics had loaded her in the second ambulance and it looked like the hovering had subsided. Michael wandered over and climbed in back. Bonnie's eyes were closed, her face was covered with an oxygen mask, and she was bundled in blankets up to her chin but at least her color looked better.

Michael slid quietly along the bench next to her, assuming she was asleep. But as he sat down, her eyes fluttered open. She reached up to pull the mask away from her mouth.

"How's RC?" she asked.

"He'll be okay. Another concussion probably. I think he's going for a record."

She smiled wanly and he took her hand. "Pretty crazy day, huh?"

"That's one way of putting it."

One of the paramedics popped his head in. "If you guys are all set, we'll head out." Michael nodded and the man climbed in, closing the back doors and taking a seat on the bench on the other side of Bonnie's stretcher.

Bonnie turned her head toward Michael, her eyes catching his in the darkened interior. "You saved my life. Again."

He held her hand up and pressed it against his cheek. He didn't like to think about how often their job put her in danger too. It was an illusion to think that any of them were really safe. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Bonnie cast her eyes down. "It got a little scary down there for a while."

He nodded. "Yeah it did." He was amazed that despite the fact that she wasn't trained for this and didn't have the kinds of experiences that he, Devon, and to a lesser extend RC, all had, she usually managed to handle herself well in a crisis. "But you did fine."

She smiled weakly and Michael could see the exhaustion in her eyes.

"I think this is supposed to stay on though," he said, gently taking the oxygen mask from her to move it back toward her mouth.

She reached for his hand, stopping him briefly. "Thank you," she said, her voice filled with an emotion he wasn't sure he could identify.

"Anytime, sweetheart." He settled the mask gently back on her face and looked away, feeling way too exposed in the dark confines of the ambulance. He had thought he'd put these feelings to bed a long time ago, but here in the dark he couldn't help thinking about the what ifs. What if he and Kitt hadn't gotten there time? What if she hadn't stopped coughing? What if he'd had to watch her die?

What if he never had the chance to...

He stuffed down those thoughts. It hadn't happened. Not today. He leaned over and rested his forehead against hers, trying to banish all the other thoughts as the ambulance pulled away from the beach.

She was alive. He was alive.

And for today anyway, the world was still full of possibilities.

------------------  
-knightshade  
September 18, 2006


End file.
